Private School Vouchers Rob Public Schools

UPDATED June 2, 2015

As the 2015 84th Texas Legislature began, several conservative Tea Party Senators aligned with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick filed bills taking varying approaches to funnel public school tax dollars to private schools.

• HB 279
• HB 1043
• SB 4
• SB 276
• SB 520
• SB 642
• SB 1178

All the bills  failed, including Senate Bill 4, a priority measure for Patrick that passed out of the Senate.

Original Article April 25, 2015

After school voucher defeats over several legislative sessions, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s public school privatization crusade passed the Senate hurtle this week. Senate Bill 4, passed out of the senate on a 18-12 vote along partisan lines after the third reading of the bill. The bill now goes to the Texas House for consideration,

Patrick has championed school voucher legislation since 2007, his first term in the Texas Senate.

Only one Democrat voted for SB4, Sen. Eddie Lucio (R-Brownsville), while two Republicans voted against it, Sen. Konni Burton (R-Colleyville) and Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville).

New Judicial Courts For Collin County

The backlog of cases at the Collin County Courthouse may begin to ease with a bill creating three new courts for the county sent to Gov. Abbotts's desk for his signature, today, the last day of the 84th Texas Legislature.

After months of discussion, Collin County commissioners voted last February to ask that the state Legislature add two new Family District Courts and one new County Court at Law. The last time Collin County added a district judge was in 2009.

SB 1139, passed in the closing days of the 2015 legislative session, newly creates the 469th and 470th Judicial District Courts to hear family law matters for Collin County. SB 1139 also adds County Court at Law No. 7. to the current list of County Court numbers 1-6.  The 469th and 470th District Courts are added to the current list District courts in Collin County:

• 199th District Court, Judge Angela Tucker
• 219th District Court, Judge Scott J. Becker
• 296th District Court, Judge John Roach, Jr.
• 366th District Court, Judge Ray Wheless
• 380th District Court, Judge Benjamin N. Smith
• 401st District Court, Judge Mark Rusch
• 416th District Court, Judge Chris Oldner
• 417th District Court, Judge Cynthia Wheless
• 429th District Court, Judge Jill Willis

The three new courts will be created on September 1, 2015, the start of Texas' fiscal year. Temporary Judges will initially be appointed to the new courts, with judges elected to a full of office during the 2016 election cycles. These ballot positions will be added to the other elected offices that will appear on 2016 Collin County Primary and General Election ballots.

Bills Denying LGBT Rights Fail In Tx 84th Legislature

The Republican dominated Texas 84th Legislature adjourns today without passing any anti-LGBT laws. During the 2015 legislative session, Republican lawmakers introduced over 20 anti-LGBT bills. The proposed legislation followed four recurring legislative themes common to Republican dominated legislatures in other states:

1. “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts” (RFRAs), or “Turn the Gays Away” bills - like the bill passed in Indiana earlier this year. Many Texas business groups opposed these bills, pointing to the backlash over similar bills in Indiana and Arkansas that opponents consider discriminatory;
2. Bills to opt out of recognizing legal same-sex marriages, intended to defy the U.S. Supreme Court, if it rules in favor of same-sex marriage, as expected, sometime this month. Nearly every House Republican sponsored a House bill that would have prohibited government employees from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The bill never reached a vote due to parlimentary procedure employed by House Democrats.
   • House Bill 1745, prohibiting license issuance by government employees, was filed by state Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, after a lesbian couple from Austin obtained a marriage license in February. Under a U.S. District Court Judge's emergency order, the Travis County clerk issued a license to Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant, who have been together for 30 years. The Judge allowed the union because of Goodfriend’s ovarian cancer diagnosis and prognosis;
3. “Bathroom Bills” that prevent transgender people from using the appropriately-gendered bathroom; and
4. Bills prohibiting cities from passing local ordinances protecting LGBT rights.

Only one piece of legislation, allowing pastors to refuse to conduct gay marriages, passed during the 84th legislature.

In a symbolic gesture to their religious conservative political base, Senate Republicans did pass a nonbinding resolution affirming the Senate’s view of marriage as being only between a man and a woman.